Vigan university faculty eyeing nursing jobs abroad, too

VIGAN, Ilocos Sur — It’s not only the students at the University of Northern Philippines who dream of a nursing career overseas. Most of the faculty have already applied to leave the country.

About 60 percent of the instructors here have been teaching for less than two years and many have only a few years of experience in the profession.

"Most of the older ones already went abroad," said faculty member Evangeline Jara.

A nursing shortage worldwide and the attraction of higher salaries in Hawaii and elsewhere have prompted a sharp increase in Filipinos studying to be nurses. But most do not want to stay in the country, which makes it hard to find experienced nurses or nursing instructors here.

About a thousand students are studying to become nurses at UNP, nearly 20 percent of the student body. After working a few years in the Philippines, most will seek jobs abroad.

Some of the Filipino nurses who come to Hawaii will need to go back to school to improve their English skills and to prepare to pass the state nursing exam.

It’s hoped a new agreement signed yesterday by Gov. Linda Lingle and Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis Singson will help improve the faculty and curriculum here so that graduates are better prepared to take Hawaii’s nursing test. The agreement may also provide at least a short-term incentive for some nursing instructors to teach a little longer.

Under the agreement, believed to be the first of its kind in the Philippines, Kapiolani Community College will help faculty here improve their curriculum and provide for faculty exchanges so that instructors from the Philippines can spend some time at KCC learning about new technologies and teaching techniques.

Those faculty members who go to Hawaii will have to sign a contract promising to return and share what they’ve learned, said Brigida de Leon, the director of nursing at UNP.

"It’s hard to run a program without experience," said Mae Kanemoto who heads the nursing department at Kapiolani Community College. "If we can go and help them build up their faculty, it would be a benefit for them"

KCC faculty members are also interested in learning about cultural practices and the type of community health care practiced in the Philippines, she added.

If the exchange program is successful, the University of Hawaii may expand it in the Philippines and establish similar exchanges with schools in China and other countries, said Leon Richards, KCC chancellor.

For now, there is no dedicated funding for the exchange program. But Richards said the college has enough money to start it up.

During the signing ceremony yesterday, the president of the University of Northern Philippines talked about the connections between Hawaii and the Ilocos region. He noted that his grandfather worked in Hawaii and that he still has relatives there.

This program, he said, is an example of the continuing relationship between the Ilocos region and Hawaii.

Faculty member Romeline Asanion will be coming to Hawaii, probably before the exchange program starts.

Her husband’s family lives in Waipahu. He started working in Hawaii several years ago and now her petition to immigrate has been approved.

Asanion said she will likely take some classes at either Leeward or Kapiolani Community College before trying to take the nursing exam.

"We all know nurses are in demand," said nursing student Sheena Villanueva, who also has relatives in Hawaii.

"If there’s an opportunity to go to Hawaii, why not?" she said.

Over the last 30 years at UNP, De Leon has seen many of her students and staff leave. But she stayed in the Philippines to raise her six children, including four daughters.

One of her daughters is now a nursing instructor at UNP and may also leave if she can be hired overseas.

"She will be the one to realize my dream," De Leon said.